Workington Association Football Club is an English football club based in Workington, Cumbria, England. The club competes in the Northern Premier League Premier Division, the seventh tier of English football.
The club plays its home matches at Borough Park, which has a capacity of 3,101. The club is often referred to as Workington Reds (red being its home colour) to distinguish it from Rugby League club Workington Town. Its traditional rivals are Carlisle United and Barrow.
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History
Long folk history
Football in Workington has a very long history. Close by and adjacent to the home of Workington A.F.C. the folk game of "Uppies and Downies" is still an annual event. There are records about the game from 20 April 1775 in the Cumbrian Pacquet which is one of the earliest written reports of a match anywhere in the world. This report says the match on which it is reporting is "long contended".
Formation of the club
Association football was introduced to Workington in the 1860s and further popularised when a group of steel workers migrated to the town from Dronfield, Derbyshire. They were workers of the Charles Cammel and Co steel works that arrived in the town in 1884. It is estimated that 1,500 townspeople moved to Workington. 'Dronnies', as the people of Workington called the newcomers, joined the 1883-founded Workington in 1888. This is also confirmed in a short history of the club which was produced as part of 16 page brochure in the club's application to the Football League in 1951.
The original Workington A.F.C. were one of the founder members of the Cumberland Association League in 1888 and played at the Ashfield Ground before moving to Lonsdale Park for the 1909–1910 season.
In 1894, they moved to the Cumberland Senior League, and in 1901, joined the Lancashire League. However, the league closed two seasons later, and they returned to the Cumberland Senior League. In 1904, the club were admitted to the Lancashire Combination, but in 1910, they decided to economise and join the North Eastern League. However, after only one season, the club folded.
The new Workington A.F.C. was born in 1921 and immediately joined the North Eastern League. During the 1933–34 season, the club managed its best-ever FA Cup performance, reaching the 4th round, before losing to Preston North End. Later, in 1937, the club moved to its present home, Borough Park, after being forced out of Lonsdale Park following a lease to a Scottish greyhound and speedway company.
In 1951, the club was voted into the Third Division North of the Football League, replacing New Brighton.
The Football League years (1951-1977)
The early Football League years of Workington Reds are chronicled in a series of books entitled So Sad So Very Sad – The League History of Workington AFC: part 1 (1951–58), part 2 (1958–64) and part 3 (1964–65).
The history of the club as a member of the Football League was one of almost constant struggle. Their first season in the League was a sign of things to come: the club finished rock bottom, and only improved by one place the following season.
From 6 January 1954 to 15 November 1955, the club was managed by Bill Shankly, who would later go on to achieve great fame through his success as manager of Liverpool.
During the 1957–58 season, they played the great Manchester United team known as the Busby Babes at home in the 3rd round of the FA Cup, attracting a record crowd of 21,000. This was just a month before eight of the United players lost their lives in the Munich air disaster. At the end of that season, the club dropped into the newly formed Fourth Division after a reorganisation of the Football League which saw the abolition of the two regionalised Third Divisions.
In 1964, player-manager Ken Furphy led them to 3rd position, earning promotion to the Third Division. During both the 1963–64 and 1964–65 season, they made it to the quarter-finals of the League Cup, where they lost to West Ham United and Chelsea (in a replay) respectively. During the latter cup run, the club beat neighbours Barrow 9–1, a record which remained until the mid-1980s. The club's proudest night was at Blackburn Rovers on 22 October 1964 in a Football League Cup 3rd round replay. A Workington team of seasoned professionals such as Keith Burkinshaw, Dave Carr, Ken Furphy and Kit Napier and a few youngsters, like John Ogilvie who went on to have a long career at the club that reached 430 appearances, beat the Blackburn team 5–1 at Ewood Park. The Blackburn team that night were full of internationals, such as Ronnie Clayton, Mike England, Newton, Byrom etc. This was reported in one newspaper as "Incredible Fantastic Workington rubbed Rovers elegant noses in the mud of Ewood Park to produce the finest result in their 80 year history"
On 3 April 1965, Workington gave a debut to one of the youngest players ever to play in the Football League, Tony Geidmintis, who was only 15 years 247 days old. Geidmintis went on to play 328 games for Workington.
Modern non-League years
After relegation in 1977, the club dropped into the Northern Premier League (NPL), but failed to trouble the top teams.
On 10 February 1978, a special fundraising friendly game was organised at Borough Park which saw two of the world's greatest players gracing the Workington pitch. On that night, a Workington team, captained by Sir Bobby Charlton took on Fort Lauderdale Strikers (a touring side from the USA), who had Gordon Banks keeping goal. The game was watched by a crowd of 6,127, who witnessed a fantastic 25-yard (23 m) strike by Charlton which was only matched by the quality of the save by Banks. The game ended 0-0.
1987-1988 Relegation
Further seasons in the Northern Premier League saw Workington never finishing higher than 7th, before they were relegated to the NPL First Division in 1988.
During the 1985–86 season, one of the world's football greats played for Workington. The club was in poor financial straits with debts of £300,000 but, on 9 April 1986, George Best played for the "Reds" in a fund-raising friendly match against a Lancashire Football League 11. The Oldham Athletic chairman, Ian Stott, put together a team managed by Joe Royle to play at Borough Park. Hence, a few weeks before Best's fortieth birthday, he captained the Workington team. Phil Neal led the opposition, which included players from Oldham Athletic, Carlisle United and Bolton Wanderers.
1997-1998 Relegation
Workington continued to struggle, eventually being relegated to the North West Counties League in 1998.
1998-99 North West Counties League Champions
The club managed to win the League at their first attempt, which was also their first ever championship. After a 2–0 defeat at Kidsgrove Athletic on 27 February 1999, manager Peter Hampton set the squad a challenge: win their last 14 games and they would win the league. Sure enough, after winning the next 13 games, Workington squared up to league leaders Mossley at Borough Park in front of a 2,281 spectators, a league record at the time (subsequently beaten by Bury F.C. post their expulsion from the league). Workington ran out 2–1 winners, with goals from Stuart Williamson and substitute Grant Holt. Workington became the first club to return to the NPL First Division at the first attempt.
Record appearances for the club
Defender Kyle May is the current record holder with 544 appearances during his 13 seasons at Workington up to 2018. Next is defender Bobby Brown with 469 appearances, during the period Workington were in the football league. The only other player to have passed the 400 appearance mark is defender John Ogilvie with 431 again in the football league years. Long serving goalkeeper Mike Rogan fell just short with 390 appearances.
Current first team squad
As of 19 August 2026
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Notable former players
The following players won full senior international caps: